The New Freemason A Young Mans Voyage into the Depths of Freemasonry

I will be entering into a United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) lodge in Bristol, the UGLE and the Grand Lodges in amity probably make up the largest percentage of the worlds Freemasons.

I provide a guide to the Lodges in and around Bristol, not just UGLE lodges but other Masonic traditions (which would be formally unrecognised by the UGLE).

UGLE Lodges in/around Bristol (Male only)

The online presence of the UGLE is here: https://www.ugle.org.uk/

Province of Bristol

There is a province of Bristol which serves the entire Bristol city area from Park Street (next to the Bristol Council House and half way between Bristol Cathedral and the University of Bristol). There are 36 Craft Lodges, 9 Mark Lodges, 13 Royal Arch Chapters and 1 Knight Templar Preceptory. Bristol has degree ceremonies unlike anywhere else.

My mother lodge will be St Vincent 1404 in the Province of Bristol.

The online presence of the Province of Bristol is here: https://www.provinceofbristol.org.uk/

Province of Somerset

Going slightly further out we have the Province of Somerset, which has lots of lodge buildings scattered across the county. The nearest Somerset lodges are in Keynsham, Bath, Nailsea, Yatton, Blagdon and Clevedon.

The online presence of the Province of Somerset is here: https://www.pglsomerset.org.uk/

Province of Gloucestershire

We also have the Province of Gloucestershire, which has the Filton Masonic Hall just on the outskirts of Bristol city (they live online here: https://www.fmhcl.org.uk/ ) they host 7 lodges.

The Province of Gloucestershire lives here: https://www.gloucestershiremasons.org.uk/

The Grand Lodge of Men and Women (Male and Female)

The Grand Lodge of Men and Women is a Co-Masonic Grand Lodge in England.

The nearest lodge under the Grand Lodge of Men and Women is the Lodge Radient Star 3 who meet in Chipping Sodbury, their online presence is here: https://www.grandlodge.org.uk/Lodge3.htm

The Grand Lodge of Men and Women live here: https://www.grandlodge.org.uk/

International Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain (Male and Female)

Le Droit Humain probably has the longest and fullest history amongst the Co-Masonic Grand Lodges. Unfortunately, they aren't so close to Bristol. Nearest lodge locations are in Camberley (Surrey), Surbiton (Surrey/London), Hardingstone (Northampton) and Tunbridge Wells (Kent).

Le Droit Humain have their UK online presence here: https://www.droit-humain.org/uk/

The Co-Freemasonic Order of the Blazing Star (Male and Female)

The Co-Freemasonic Order of the Blazing Star isn't incredibly well known, but it is South-West England specific. Their location is in Devon.

The Co-Freemasonic Order of the Blazing Star online presence is here: https://www.cfobs.org.uk/

Womens Order of Freemasonry (OWF) (Female only)

The OWF is one of the two Female-only Freemasonry traditions that the UGLE has almost admitted to being recognised. There are lodges in Somerset and in Gloucestershire (where exactly, I'm not sure).

The OWF lives online here: https://www.owf.org.uk/

The Honourable Fraternity of Freemasons (HFAF) (Female only)

HFAF is the other of the two Female-only Freemasonry traditions that the UGLE has almost admitted to being recognised. The nearest HFAF lodge to Bristol seems to be in Witney (a town just to the West of Oxford City) followed by Caterham (Surrey) and Bournemouth.

Other Male Only Lodges

There are two more "Male-only" Lodges in England:

• The Grand Lodge of All England ( https://www.grandlodgeofallengland.org/ ), but I am unsure if there are any of their lodges outside of York.
• The Regular Grand Lodge of England ( https://www.rgle.org.uk/ ), which I don't think there are any lodges in the South-West, I think the nearest is in London. I've heard some dodgy things about the RGLE though.

OK, so I've been doing a little bit of investigation into the Swedenborg Rite. I doubt that it was created by Emanuel Swedenborg, and many scholars doubt that Swedenborg was a Mason. However, I do believe that the Swedenborg must have some relation to Swedenborgian thought.

The Swedenborgian Rite eventually made it's way into the "The Antient and Primitive Rite of Memphis-Misraïm" which is not a regular appendant body (I don't think). However, the Swedenborgian Rite is quite interesting... particularly from a Bristol point of view...

Warrent to do the Swedenborgian Rite was granted to John Yarker in the UK in 1876. Yarker shortly resigned the role of Worshipful Master of the (Swedenborgian Rite) Emmanuel Lodge No. 1 (located in Manchester) and transferred leadership to Francis George Irwin, who moved the Lodge to the Bristol area!

Bristol had two documented Swedenborgian Rite lodges, the first was called Emmanuel Lodge 1 (as brought by Irwin) (met in May 1877 in Weston-Super-Mare) and the second was called Cagliostro Lodge No. 7 (formed by George F. Tuckey) (warrented June 1877). Cagliostro Lodge wasn't a success and so there isn't much documentation about the Lodge. One thing is clear, Tuckey aimed to set up a "Lodge and Temple in the Province of Bristol" as he was one of the "distinguished Brethren of Bristol and Gloucestershire".

This makes it clear that Tuckey was a regular member of the Province of Bristol, and therefore, there may be some records in the Bristol Archives (*rubs-hands*). What's also interesting is that Irwin was also a regular mason in the Province of Bristol, and was even the Chief Adept of the Bristol College SRIA.

I don't know whether Tuckey or Irwin were Swedenborgians. Irwin was certainly a Trinitarian Christian, as that is a pre-requisite for membership in the SRIA. Swedenborgianism doesn't strictly adhere to traditional Trinitarian understanding.... but the Swedenborg Rite isn't from Swedenborg and isn't entirely Swedenborgian anyway.

Tuckey is also listed as a Mark Mason in the Province of Bristol as a member of Carnarvon Lodge No 119 at Keynsham and Canynges Lodge TI at Bristol who met up in this particular instance in April 1874. (The name Canynges is quite interesting too, I may go into that deeper in another blog post sometime)

There is also a Swedenborgian New Church in Bristol, which has been meeting in (various locations around) Bristol since 1792. I walked past it a while ago and took some pictures, here's one:

Someone who went on to become a Mason is also documented being ordained in the New Church in Bristol (1822), he was Rev. D. G. Goyder (b:1796 - d:1878) of Accrington Church (from 1829) and made a Mason in a Lodge in Accrington ( Samaritan Lodge No. 539 in 1829).

I look forward to finding out a bit more about a bit more about Irwin, Tuckey and Goyder and both the Swedenborg Rite and Swedenborgianism in Bristol. For now though, I've found a potential link between Tuckey and his profession thanks to the Online National Archive record "RAIL 252/766" from 1883:

Bond from Henry Simpson, George Tuckey (plumber, Bristol) and Robert John Crocker (builder and contractor, Bedminster, Somerset) (his sureties) to Great Western Railway Company for due performance of agreement for construction of Tiverton Station, Devon

Is this the Tuckey? A plumber in Operation and a Freemason in society? and the construction of a new Tiverton Station which opened in 1886... that's an interesting one!

References

All of the above information is retrieved from the following locations:

• https://www.freemasonry.bcy.ca/aqc/swedenborg.html (Grand Lodge of BCY website)
• Francis Irwin Biography (Grand Lodge of BCY website)
• ...and the embedded links

Many thanks to friends on the Novus Ordo Saeculorum forum for their advice about my question about the term "Brother" from my post entitled "The Term "Brother"". I provide a summary about the term:

• The term "Brother" is an honorary title earned when the person is initiated into Freemasonry.
• Most consider a Mason to be a brother once they have been through the Entered Apprentice Degree, however some Masons prefer the term to be applied to Master Masons only. This may depend on when a Mason is able to vote on business within the Lodge, in the UGLE this is at Entered Apprentice level.
• The term "Brother" in monastic groups can be used by people outside the monastic group to refer to someone inside the monastic group. This is not true in Freemasonry, in other words you have to be a Mason to call another Mason Brother.
• An applicant/candidate or even a friend of Freemasonry might be called "brother" (note the lower-case "b"), if they have earned it through friendship. People in other organisations similar to masonry (such as the Order of the Moose) may be called "cousin" by a Freemason. But these terms probably depend on the liberality/comfortability of the Mason using the term.
• Brother is used for referring to both Male and Female Masons. (Female Masons can be found in Co-Masonic Bodies such as Le Droit Humaine, and in Female-only Bodies such as HFAF and OWF).
• In regards to whether a Mason calls another Mason a Brother if they are in a Lodge which is not recognised (and/or not regular), is up to the Mason. They may call them "Brother" or "brother", or in some cases "non-Mason". Note that when a Lodge is not recognised the Mason is forbidden to attend that Lodge's meeting, however, the Mason can still visit to look around a museum / take a tour.

Of course, if there are any Masons reading this who would like to correct me on anything then please do let me know.... send me a message at danieljohnlewis [-a-t-] gmail [-d-o-t-] com.

I leave with a quote by Robert Burns (via Keith on the NOS Forum):

For a' that and a' that,
It's comin' yet, for a' that,
That man to man, the world o'er
Shall brithers be for a' that.

Happy St. John the Baptist day! (24th June 2008)

For those who don't know, today marks the nativity of St. John the Baptist. St. John the Baptist is one of the Christian Saints, he is a crucial character in the New Testament and offered a new form of salvation to non-Jews.

Some know that St. John is often seen as one of the "Patron Saints" of Freemasonry (Albert Mackey mentions this in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry), also the Swedish Rite names the Craft degrees (which are the first three degrees) as "St John's degrees", although the Swedish Rite is restricted to Christians (and could be St. John the Evangelist rather than the Baptist).

This is obviously quite interesting to note that St. John the Baptist is being mentioned in relation to Freemasonry. Even when I visited (for a tour) the Freemasons' Hall in London (UGLE), they showed a big picture which represented St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. The Saints John are Christian Saints, and Freemasonry is available to anyone who believes in a "Supreme Being"... maybe it's because the Freemasons of whatever personal faith can look at these Saints with inspiration, not for what they did for Christianity, but for the hope they gave and for the personal spiritual exploration and dedication that they achieved.

There are some good articles available:

• The Holy Saints John
• Wikipedia Article about St. John the Baptist
• "St John the Baptist the Precursor" by the Templar Globe blog
• Swedish Rite information from the Grand Lodge of Sweden

Grand Lodges I have visited

• 17th June 2008: Grand Lodge of Scotland - Freemasons' Hall, Edinburgh :: For a tour around the Rooms and Museum, also got a signed copy of "The Rosslyn Hoax?" by Robert Cooper. (Before becoming a Mason)
• March 2007: United Grand Lodge of England - Freemasons' Hall, London :: For a tour around the Museum, Rooms and Temple (Before becoming a Mason)

Provincial Grand Lodges I have visited

• May 2008: Province of Bristol (UGLE, UK) - Freemasons' Hall, Bristol :: This will become my mother province. So far I have had a brief tour, I expect that I will get to know this building a lot more in the future.
• May 2007: Province of Oxfordshire (UGLE) - Oxford Masonic Centre, Oxford :: I was considering joining Freemasonry when I lived in Oxford, but I decided to postpone it because I knew that I was moving to Bristol.

Other loosely related places of interest to Masons

• 16th June 2008: Rosslyn Chapel, Roslin (near Edinburgh), Scotland :: Visited, bought the book by the current Earl of Rosslyn. Some say that this building is heavily related to Freemasonry and the Knights Templar... however the only concrete relationship between Rosslyn and Freemasonry is the fact that the William Sinclair that built the Chapel hired stonemasons, and a later William Sinclair was asked to be the Grand Master of the Freemasons.
• Early 2007: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford :: Visited. Many people know that the Ashmolean Museum is a collection of Elias Ashmole. The building is also allegedly built by Christopher Wren. Both Ashmole and Wren were Freemasons. I don't think I saw anything in the museum which was overtly Masonic, although there was a small golden ring with what looked like a square and compass on it.... but I couldn't be sure.
• September 2007: Île de la Cité, Paris. Where Jacque de Molay (the official Last Grand Master of the Knights Templar) was executed. The Notre Dame de Paris is here, which is a great work of stonemasonry, and a wonderful cathederal.

This is my first blog post on The New Freemason, and the first topic that I wanted to talk about is Bristol Freemasonry. As I am not a Freemason yet, the information that I provide here is only things what I have heard about Bristol Freemasonry. Apparently, Freemasonry in the Province of Bristol is quite different to the other Provinces in the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE). Some of the things said and done during Craft ritual in Bristol are different to those in Craft ritual elsewhere.... I've heard that they teach exactly the same things, but it has a different style.

I've also heard that the Royal Arch degree is also quite different to elsewhere in the UK, and probably because of something called the "Baldwyn Rite" which, from what I could gather, is a certain order of Concordant Degrees which goes something like:

1. 1. Craft: Entered Apprentice
   2. Craft: Fellow Craft
   3. Craft: Master Mason
2. Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch, which I understand to be:
   1. Mark Master
   2. Holy Royal Arch

   (Although this might also include the Past Master degree *shrugs-shoulders*)

3. The Five Royal Orders of Knighthood
   1. Knights of the Nine Elected Masters (Done under the Province of Bristol)
   2. The Ancient Order of the Scots Knights Grand Architect (Done under the Province of Bristol)
   3. Knights of the East, The Sword and Eagle (Done under the Province of Bristol)
   4. Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta, and Knights Templar (Done with permission from the Great Priory of Malta (England), which is part of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons)
   5. Knights of the Rose Croix of Mount Carmel (Done with permission from the Supreme Council of the England and Wales)

(Above list is taken from the Province of Bristol "Rite of Baldwyn of Seven Degrees" page)
(Craft Ritual is the first three degrees of Freemasonry, often called Blue Lodge. In the Province of Bristol this is done by permission of the United Grand Lodge of England)

I don't know why things are different in Bristol, or why they even have a certain order. Hopefully I will find out in the future, but I think it might be because Bristol retained the older ritual before the uniting of the two Grand Lodges of England (the Antients and the Moderns) to form the UGLE... it probably has some similarities to ritual found in France, Scotland and America, but once again I can't be sure but I definitely look forward to finding out!

I have a lot to learn about Masonry, and in particular Bristol Freemasonry... but I am on the path of wisdom now (before I've even been initiated, and I am being careful to avoid any secrets that I shouldn't know yet) and I am looking forward to experiencing the wonderful ceremonies in Bristol and around the world.

The Mission Statement

The site was created on Friday 20th June 2008 by Daniel Lewis, who, at the time was not a Freemason. However, he has been interested in Masonry for a few years now, and has decided to join St Vincent Lodge 1404 of the UGLE Province of Bristol. The mission of this site is to document his thoughts through application, candidacy, entering (initiation), passing and raising through Blue Lodge (Craft) Freemasonry and beyond. I am sorry to say that: Daniel will not divulge any of the secrets of Freemasonry, not now or later - no matter what happens.